Hi everyone! As some of you know, we just got home from Children's hospital with our baby Joshua. We were there for three days because Joshie had something called Kawasaki Disease (KD). KD is an infection in the blood vessels that can damage the heart. Though there is only a 1% death rate from the KD BUT the side effects of KD are the leading cause of pediatric heart attack. If your child has EVER had several of the following symptoms at the same time (not even all), PLEASE take them to the Dr and tell them that you suspect that they once had Kawasaki and want the child's heart check via Echo cardiogram. The effects of KD can cause problems many years after the child recovers. And most pediatricians send KD children home with a "virus."

Early symptoms of KD include:

* Fever that lasts for several days * Rash, often worse in the groin area * Red eyes, without drainage or crusting * Bright red, swollen, cracked lips * "Strawberry" tongue, which appears with shiny bright red spots after the top coating sloughs off * Swollen hands and feet * Redness of the palms and soles of the feet * Swollen lymph nodes

Please take the time to have your child checked if he or she has EVER had any of these symptoms. The specialist we saw at Children's said that if we had waited 3 or 4 more days for treatment, Joshua most likely would have died from complications with his heart. As it is now, he'll need close monitoring for a while because he has some dilation in his Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery, dilation of the aortal root, and a spot where the Dr is concerned that Joshua might develop an aneurysm where the left artery splits.

PLEASE forward this to anyone you know with children. You might save a life. Also, please keep an eye out on your children for symptoms, esp if you are related to Joshua (cousins, etc) since they believe there is a genetic correlation as well.

You can find more information at http://www.kdfoundation.org/http://www.pediatrics.ucsd.edu/C9/KD%20for%20Parents/default.aspx

If your children have ever had this disease, please let me know ASAP as the KD specialist treating Joshua would like information from anyone who has had it so they can try to understand this disease better.

Here are some pictures of Joshua before and during our hospital visit.